We didn’t wake till gone 08:00 – we obviously needed the sleep!! I had a quick cup of tea and we made our way down to the pool. I must still have been half asleep as, having got poolside, I realised that I had left my goggles and hat in the room🤦🏻♀️. Jezza, now looking a bit more lithe in his budgie smugglers was keen to get on with his swim and was happily making waves when I returned, armed with appropriate attire!! My Fitbit advises that I swam 1175m, however, it didn’t seem that far to me, but I’ll take its word 🤪😂.
The pool shut at 10:00, so that was the end of our swim and we got ourselves ready for a much more leisurely day and left the hotel at about 11:30. We saw a sign written van on our way, which made us laugh – Jezza’s pic of it is below 🤭🤭.
We walked to the train station and got off at the East Side Gallery – a 1.3km long stretch of the Berlin Wall which still stands and has been painted with street art. Immediately after the wall came down on 9 November 1989, 118 artists from 21 countries were commissioned to paint the wall which officially opened in September 1990. About a year later, it was given protected memorial status.
Jezza was happy doing his David Bailey bit and took so many photos – too many to put on this page, so here’s a separate link to the East Side Gallery page.
Whilst walking along the wall, we saw some eateries and decided to take a break for a sandwich- there are no lunch photos as they didn’t look very appetising, however, they were delicious!!!
We carried on with our walk, still amazed at the artwork and wondering what a lot of them meant… We were beginning to sound like an episode of Catchphrase – “say what you see”!!! We decided that some of the artists must have been on stuff from Amsterdam when they created their paintings as some were very difficult to figure out … 🤔🤔🤔.
Over the years, some of the paintings have deteriorated, so they have been retouched in places and some have been completely copied.
Not long after the wall came down, there would be tourists who used to turn up, armed with hammers and chisels to chip off bits of the wall!!! They obviously didn’t fly Ryanair 😂😂.
As I have said before, we have been so lucky with our weather on our trip (I’m still waiting to wear the jumper I knitted especially!), but it did turn a bit chilly and breezy as we neared the end of the wall. Jezza brought along the umbrella I bought for the trip, saying that if he did bring it, it wouldn’t rain!! 🤪. We decided that we wouldn’t tempt fate, so we caught the bus back to the hotel, returning just before 15:00. By 15:30, the rain started, so we started to sort out and pack our dirties from clean clothes before the next leg of our trip tomorrow….
At about 16:30 we went for a relaxing sauna – however, it didn’t turn out like that. At some point I knew that I would upset the natives, and this afternoon was that time…
The last time I used a sauna in the UK was pre-Jezza in Purley Squash Club and we used to have to wear swimming costumes – how times change – in mainland Europe things are different and it’s a no-no to wear a costume as it’s not only unhygienic but, when they get hot, toxic chemicals are released into the air. The signs outside the sauna clearly stated no swimming costumes, just a towel or naked 🙈🙈. Surprise, surprise, when we went in, there was a woman wearing a costume. I knew Jezza wouldn’t say anything, so it was up to me to be confrontational 🙄😂😂 – I said to her that costumes weren’t allowed, and pointed to the sign by the door. She wasn’t happy with this but proceeded to take her costume off, at which point I told her why, and that the costume shouldn’t even be in the sauna.
This really didn’t go down well and she and her friend called me aggressive!! – I just replied that if they read the sign, I wouldn’t have to say anything. They poo pooed what I’d said and I said that rules were there for a reason- so much for a relaxing sauna 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️.
We finished our sauna and as we were showering off, another girl in a swimming costume went to go into the sauna – does nobody apart from The Wainfords read the rules? 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️. This time, Jezza pointed the sign out to her and she promptly left 😂😂. Saunagate over, we went back to our room to get ready for dinner…
We thought maybe we would need the umbrella for our walk to the restaurant tonight- and we were right 🌨️🌨️.
We dined in the same Croatian restaurant for our third and last night in Berlin and yet again, we weren’t disappointed with our meal. Jezza ordered a pork schnitzel stuffed with ham and cheese, garlic butter, fries and lethal onions, served with a red sauce …. I ordered shrimps on a skewer with peppers and a jacket potato smothered in sour cream. All washed down with the Croatian rosé that we’ve become accustomed to over our stay here.
Seated on the table next to us were 2 women and a man who were Hertha Berlin fans ⚽️, and had been to the match today. Jezza took a photo for them with their food and as they left, we spoke football in my very limited O-level German. We learned that they followed both Chelsea and Liverpool – as they were disappointed that H Berlin had only drawn today, Jezza got Google Translate out and typed in “we feel your pain” -which they found very funny!!!
Once again, Jezza ordered the apple strudel for dessert and devoured it quite quickly. Apparently, swimming, walking and saunas eliminate all traces of sugar in an instant 😂😂😂.
We asked to settle our bill and the owner of the restaurant asked what liqueur we would like (on the house) – we chose a sweet drink that was similar to marc, which we get in France, which is the leftover vegetation from the grape harvest which is distilled and made into a sweet liqueur. The restauranteur thanked us for our custom over the last few days and we went on our way….
The liqueur warmed us up before our walk home – the weather was vile and the wind didn’t help either. Hopefully we would be leaving the rain behind in Berlin, but the forecast temperature in Prague looked to be a bit chilly – maybe I’ll get to wear my new sweater there 🤪😂😂.
Another eventful day over. Early start tomorrow for our next destination – the Clampetts on the move again 😂😂.
Night night – till demain 😘😘
Total steps : 9,348
